Cbp Government Agencies Are Formed and Used

CBP

Government agencies are formed and used to both oversee and administer specific functions within a government. U.S. Customs and Border protection is a recently reorganized agency that is part of the Department of Homeland Security umbrella. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is charged with the regulation and facilitation of international trade, the collection of import duties, and the enforcement of U.S. regulations that include, but are not limited to, trade, customs, and immigration (U.S. Customs and Border Protection).

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is one of the most recently formed government agencies; DHS was created after the September 11 attacks and is the third largest Cabinet department. DHS is coordinated at the White House by the Homeland Security Council. During the formation of DHS, several government agencies were combined, overall incorporating more than 40 agencies different agencies. Under the DHS reorganization, U.S. Customs, U.S. Border Patrol, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture, as well as the inspection duties of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service were combined to form U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)(Timeline, n.d.). In addition to CBP, the major agencies under DHS include TSA, Citizen and Immigration Services, ICE, FEMA, the U.S. Secret Service, and the U.S. Coast Guard (Borja 2008). There are currently 22 agencies that are under the DHS umbrella.

This history of the U.S. Customs Department dates back to July 4, 1789 when the 2nd Act of the First Congress established the practice of collecting tariffs on "imported goods and merchandises;" these tariffs were intended to help to fund the newly formed government (Timeline, n.d.). On July 20th, the 3rd Act of the First Congress established a "system of tariffs on the tonnage of ships." It was on July 31, 1789 that the U.S. Customs Service was formally established following the 5th Act of the First Congress; this act established 59 customs collection districts in 11 states that had ratified the new Constitution (Timeline, n.d.). On May 27, 1796, the passage of the Quarantine and Health Act gave the President the power to use Customs Collectors to "enforce quarantine and state health laws" (Timeline, n.d.). The Naturalization Act of 1798 gave officials the power to deport foreigners that were considered to be dangerous. In 1819, the Steerage Act required that all shipmasters provide a list, or manifest, to the local Collector of Customs of all aliens that were immigrating to the U.S. While the U.S. continued to expand its borders and territories, so the responsibilities and grasp of the U.S. Customs Service expanded. In 1848, the same year that the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was ratified, Congress passed the Drug Importation Act of 1848. Under the Drug Importation Act, special examiners were appointed at six different points of entry including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, and New Orleans (Timeline, n.d.).

While the U.S. Customs Service was busy protecting, monitoring, and documenting immigrants within the country's borders, the U.S. Customs Border Patrol was not formally established until 1853. With the formation of the U.S. Customs Border Patrol, Collectors of Customs were given power by the Treasury Secretary to hire Customs Mounted Inspectors to patrol U.S. borders (Timeline, n.d.).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), a separate agency until the formation of the Department of Homeland Security, was established on May 15, 1862 by President Lincoln. At the time, the USDA was charged with the procurement, propagation, and distribution of valuable seeds and plants to American people (Timeline, n.d.). In 1912, the Plant Quarantine Act established the Federal Horticulture Board (FHB) within the USDA. This Act not only authorized plant quarantines, but also placed uniformed FHB officers at ports of entry to work alongside Customs, Immigration, and Public Health Service Inspectors (Timeline, n.d.). The FHB would later be renamed to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

While the U.S. Customs Service and the U.S. Customs Border Patrol had been charged with maintaining the safety of the American people and maintaining records of immigrants within the country's borders, the Bureau of Immigration was not created until March 3, 1895 by an Act of Congress; this same Act gave the President the power to appoint Commissioners General of Immigration to serve at several ports of entry (Timeline, n.d.). In 1906, the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization Services was created to administer the first "uniform naturalization laws in the United States" (Timeline, n.d.). Though this is a completely different agency, even under DHS, U.S. Customs is responsible for the enforcement of issues and laws concerning immigration and naturalization. In 1933, the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization Services became the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service within the Department of Labor (Timeline, n.d.).

Several Acts and reforms continued to change the manner in which the U.S. Customs Service functioned, but by the end of the 1920s, the foundations had been laid for the agencies that currently from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The 1920s saw the formation, and fall, of various agencies. These agencies included the Bureau of Customs, the Customs Agency Service, and the Plant Quarantine and Control Administration; the Bureau of Prohibition was abolished after two years because many of its duties overlapped with the duties of Customs and Immigrations patrols (Timeline, n.d.).

Currently, CBP oversees 327 designated ports and an additional 14 pre-clearance locations (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, n.d.). There are also various positions within the organization which are separated into specific "offices;" offices include the Office of Field Operations, Office of Border Patrol, Office of Air & Marine, Office of International Trade, Office of Information and Technology, Office of Administration, Office of Training and Development, Office of Internal Affairs, and the Office of Intelligence and Investigative Liaison (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, n.d.).

In addition to these Offices, CBP employs more than 58,000 people; this workforce includes officers and agents, agriculture specialists, aircraft pilots, trade specialists, mission support staff, and canine enforcement officers and agents (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, n.d.). The two major types of officers/agents are agriculture specialists and Border Patrol Agents; agriculture specialists have the authority to conduct random inspections and the power to seize prohibited and contaminated items. Border Patrol Agents patrol the border in order to prevent terrorists and weapons from crossing into the U.S. These agents also detect, prevent the smuggling and illegal entry of aliens; also, these agents have the authority to apprehend people that are found to be in violation of immigration laws (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, n.d.).